Album Review: Metal Metal by Metá Metá

The band are from São Paulo, but the major influence on Metá Metá's extraordinary fusion style comes from further north up the Brazilian coast in Bahia, the centre of Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian religion that has links to back to west Africa and the slavery days. The album starts with an edgy, wailing religious chant, but then switches to new songs dedicated to the gods, or orixás, in which the music echoes anything from punk rock to freeform jazz and samba. The band constantly change direction, from easygoing dance passages and rippling, African-influenced guitar work through to sudden waves of sound, with the cool but dominant vocals of Jucara Marcal matched against furious passages of jazz saxophone and percussion.

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